Do investments in soft skills pay off in terms of student achievement? This paper evaluates a large private-sector program in this area, EPIS, based on individual and small-group sessions of mediators that seek to improve the non-cognitive skills (e.g. motivation, self-esteem, conscientiousness)...

This paper argues that school grades cannot be interpreted solely as a reward for a given school performance, since they also reflect teachers' ratings of pupils. Grades therefore contain valuable information about pupils' own - usually unknown - ability. The incorporated assessment in grade...

This paper examines the causal effects of Catholic schooling on educational attainment. Using a novel instrumental-variable approach that exploits an exogenous shock to the Catholic school system, we show that the positive correlation between Catholic schooling and student outcomes is explained...

Enrollment in teacher preparation programs in the U.S. has decreased dramatically over the last few years. However, the factors behind this decline are still largely unknown. In this paper, we examine whether the introduction of school accountability systems has discouraged individuals from...

This paper explores the relative roles of quality of schools and household characteristics on the household's choice of school in India. I use a standard binary choice logit model to estimate the e↵ect of income on private school enrolment after controlling for school attributes and other...

This paper provides an overview of school education in India. First, it places India's educational achievements in international perspective, particularly against countries with which it is now increasingly compared, especially China. Second, the paper examines schooling access in terms of...